Hello, Disease
by sweetiepie1019
Summary: PostRent The last moments of some of our favorite bohemians. Please R&R!


Hello, Disease

_Goodbye love, goodbye love_

She cradled his head in her lap. She brushed back his hair from his forehead, tears gathering in her eyes as she listened to his breath coming harsh and haggard from tired lungs. "It's not fair," she informed him in a choked whisper. "I was supposed to go ... to go first."

He laughed hoarsely, which turned into a cough that wracked his long, wasted frame. Mark sprang up with the water glass he had been clutching, but Roger waved him away. "You know me. Always had to be number one."

"Angel was first," Collins reminded him woodenly from a corner.

"Collins!" Joanne snapped, her face tight with sorrow, stroking Maureen's back as the subdued drama queen cried quietly into her shoulder.

Roger grinned a little. "He cheated. Somehow." He coughed again, longer and harder than before. He turned his face to Mark. "Don't sell my guitar, ok? You should learn how to play it." Mark opened his mouth a few times, then just nodded. Roger's face got serious. "I'm sorry I couldn't stick around longer. I'll miss you."

Mark's eyes filled. "You know I'll miss you. Who else is going to call me on my crap?"

Roger grinned. "I thought that was what Joanne did for all of us." He glanced around the room. "I love all of you. You know that, right?"

Everyone nodded mutely, except Maureen, whose crying just increased.

He turned his face up to her. "I love you Mimi."

She smiled faintly. "I love you, too," she rasped out. She leaned down and kissed him gently on his lips. He smiled again, then let out a small sigh and closed his eyes.

A silence filled the room. "Roger?" Benny finally asked in a watery whisper. Mark shook his head and began to sob wide, broken sobs as Mimi gathered Roger in her arms, rocking him slightly, murmuring, "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you," as one silent tear coursed down her cheek.

_Goodbye love, goodbye. Just came to say goodbye love, goodbye love, goodbye love_

"Come on, Mimi. Let's go home."

"No. Not yet, Mark."

"We've been here for an hour. It's time to go." He saw her shiver and his brow furrowed. "We need to get you out of the cold."

"Please, sweetie." Maureen looked so worried, heartbroken, and lost, so small in Joanne's arms, that Mimi nodded.

"Just let me say goodbye."

A chord in Mark's head, and he could almost see Roger standing there, yelling at him for living a lie. _I won't anymore_, he promised the image silently, then went to stand with his friends a few feet away.

Mimi kneeled down in front of the tombstone, and traced Roger's name. "I love you. I always will."

She stood up, and suddenly started coughing faintly. Mark hurried over, ushering her out of the graveyard, a haunted and terrified expression on his face.

_Hello, disease_

"Just two weeks. She didn't have to learn how to live without him. Why couldn't I ..."

Mark looked up at Collins. "You're not thinking about ..."

Collins shook his head slowly. "No. I'll take the time I've got."

"Good. Thank God. Because we need you." Benny, Maureen and Joanne nodded fervently. "I won't let this family die," Mark told him firmly.

Collins smiled a little, remembering. "As long as none of you are going to Sante Fe."

Mark, Benny and Joanne all grinned, while Maureen gave a hiccupping giggle, which made everyone laugh. The laughter was swallowed up by the silence of the place. Finally Mark turned to them. "Let's go to the Life Cafe. They can't throw us out today." He looked down, and added softly, "I don't want to home yet."

Joanne freed one of her arms from Maureen and put it around Mark's shoulders, hugging him slightly. Mark put his arm around her waist, and Maureen grabbed his elbow with one arm. Then she pulled Benny to her with her right hand, settling her arm across his back and her head on Joanne's shoulder. Mark reached out his free hand to Collins. "Come on."

Collins turned back to the tombstone. "Mimi Davis, tell Miss Angel Dumott Schunard that I miss him. And that I love him. I always will." Then he grabbed Mark's hand and was pulled into a one-armed hug. Still linked together, the friends left the graveyard.

_There is no future, there is no past_

_Thank God this moment's not the last_

They knew they'd back, and soon. But for now they were all here, all alive. And that's what mattered.

Mark went home that night. He picked up the guitar and set up the music he had bought from the store. Hours later, strains of Musetta's Waltz flowed out his window.

_No day but today._

Disclaimer: I don't own this, of course, and would never take credit from Jonathon Larson, who I believe is in a section of heaven reserved only for musical theatre geniuses.

AN: This is so sad, isn't it? I had to get the sadness I felt out somehow, because every time I hear "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" and "Goodbye Love" on my soundtrack (which I play several times a day in honor of the upcoming movie – ONE WEEK LEFT!) I start bawling like a maniac. Seriously. You'd think I'd get over it eventually, but nope. Still crying. This takes place about five years after the end of Rent. And I'm not sure how they became friends with Benny again, but I always thought that deep down there's some good in Benny, so I decided to make them make up. I just did. Oh, did I mention this is my first Rent fic? So PLEASE R&R!

AN: Um, oopsie! So **Koishii-Kitsune-Akira **totally called me on my spelling of Angel's name. I just was too lazy to go out and get my soundtrack with the lyrics on it, which was in my car, and where I am it is POURING outside, so I just kinda took my best stab at it. Which, considering my spelling techniques, was sinfully off. So I've fixed it. Please don't hate me!


End file.
